Valtteri Bottas (continued)
While Valtteri Bottas currently sits in third place in the championship standings 35 points behind Scuderia Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel, who leads the standings, and 34 points behind his Mercedes teammate, Lewis Hamilton, in second, this is not representative of how strong Bottas has been this season.
More from Formula One
- Formula 1: Top Red Bull threat identified for 2024
- Formula 1: Why the Max Verstappen retirement obsession?
- Formula 1: Williams ‘mistake’ hints Logan Sargeant’s future
- Formula 1 awaiting key confirmation for 2024 season
- Formula 1: The ‘championship’ Max Verstappen only leads by 3 points
Had it not been for the tire puncture that his car sustained while he was leading the Azerbaijan Grand Prix with three laps to go, Bottas would have 111 points and a victory as opposed to 86 points and no victories. Vettel would have 119 points as opposed to 121 points and Hamilton would have 113 points and just one victory this season as opposed to 120 points and two victories.
Bottas has finished higher than his four-time Formula 1 champion teammate in three of the seven races that have been held so far this season, and he has outperformed him in four of those seven races since he did outperform him in the Azerbaijan Grand Prix despite the fact that he was forced to retire with three laps to go and Hamilton won.
Is Bottas on the hot seat? Absolutely. But is that seat a lot cooler now than it was after he finished in eighth place in the 2018 season opener, the Australian Grand Prix, following his crash in qualifying? Absolutely.
Next: Top 10 Formula 1 drivers of all-time
Which current Formula 1 drivers do you believe will lose their current rides before the 2019 season begins? Do you believe that any or all of the five drivers discussed in this article as being on the hot seat will be on the move?